One day you can control your Mac – and maybe your Apple TV – from motion. Apple has received another patent (number 10.218.963) for a "gesture-based user interface" as a hint at the Mac control gesture. This is called "scanning projectors and image capture modules for 3D mapping."

Various methods are known in optical 3D mapping – that is, generating a 3D profile on the surface of an object by processing an optical image of the object. This type of 3D profile is also referred to as a 3D map, depth map or depth image, and 3D mapping is also referred to as depth mapping. Per Apple's patent, an image capture image captures the pattern of the object and the image is processed to reconstruct a 3D map of the object.